


The Blood of Human Kindness

by yeahyoursisbetterprobably



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Kidnapping, Murder, Not Really Character Death, Pirates, sea serpents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 06:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18463247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeahyoursisbetterprobably/pseuds/yeahyoursisbetterprobably
Summary: This is the story of a boy, and a sea monster, and the day he dies.





	The Blood of Human Kindness

There is a raid. Pirates are rare on Berk. The island lies away from the main trade routes, and they are, relatively, poor compared to their closest neighbours. The last time pirates had attacked was fifteen years ago.

 

Cannonballs have made short work of the outer wall. Homes are burning. People are lying on the streets, dead and dying. Hiccup runs for the Great Hall. The forge is already on fire, his house has half collapsed. Set back against the cliff-face, the Hall is the only safe place left in Berk, but if the Naval men can’t fight back the attack, then it’ll be the next to go; men, woman and children with it, but there is nowhere else left for Hiccup, Chief’s son and Heir, to hide.

 

His boots are slipping on the wet roads. It could be water on the cobbles, from the fire teams. It could be blood. Hiccup doesn’t care to know, and has no time to look closely. He skids around a corner, falls, rolls, and scrambles upright again. He’s almost there. Its darker here, and quieter. Sounds of fighting are distant behind him. Their attackers haven’t made it this far yet. The Great Hall is still safe. Distracted by his own brief relief, Hiccup doesn’t see the pirate step out ahead of him until too late.

 

He’s a huge man. Long ragged hair; dark, unkempt beard. Even his coat is black. Hiccup stumbles back, falling to the ground. He can’t even fight others his own age, he has no chance against this man. Hiccup is terrified. The pirate grins down at him, and Hiccup can only tell because of the firelight reflecting off the man’s teeth. It’s not a nice smile.

“And here I was, thinking I’d have to drag some child out of their poor mama’s arms. And, lo, here you are.” The man remarks as Hiccup skitters back. Too slow. The pirate scoops down pulls Hiccup up by his hair. Hiccup cries out, reaching up and grasping at the man’s arm.

“You’ll do just nicely.”

“Captain!” another pirate calls from down the roadway, “We’re loosing ground!”

“We’ve got what we came for!” the captain replies, hoisting Hiccup further into the air, and Hiccup shrieks as he’s shaken, tears filling his eyes at the pull on his scalp.

“Tell the men to head back to the ship.”

“Aye!”

 

As the second pirate runs off, the captain turns Hiccup so they meet eye to eye.

“We’ve found the beastie a perfect snack” he gloats, and tosses Hiccup head-first into a house wall. And that’s the last of the night he remembers.

 

* * *

 

 

Hiccup is cold and wet. His head throbs, and the side of his face feels is badly grazed. He’s scared, too. It’s so dark that he can’t see it when he holds a hand in front of his face. The distant sounds of the sea, of creaking wood, and, closer, of shouting, filter down through the black.

Hiccup doesn’t know how long he’s been here.

If he could see outside, would Berk be glowing in flame across the water, or would there be nothing but ocean on all sides to the horizon?

Either way, Hiccup has no chance to be saved. Whether on board the ship, or by being tossed off of it, he will die. That’s what pirates do. So he sits in the cold, wet, dark, and he waits, and they do come for him, eventually.

 

The crew are all tattered, rugged men. Unkempt and armed with too many pointy things in poor condition. The light from the lanterns they carry, and then from the sun, make Hiccup’s eyes run, and his headache worsens instantly. Until now, the pirates haven’t bound him, but now on deck, they pull his arms to his back and loop rope far too tight around his wrists. One man holds onto the collar of his shirt, twisting the fabric until it digs noose-like into Hiccup’s throat. He’s dragged along, across deck and into the Captain’s cabin.

The captain is waiting for them just outside to door and he smiles when he sees Hiccup.

“Boy finally awake?” he asks rhetorically, and chuckles “You’re in for a treat today.”

Hiccup doubts it, but his opinion is meaningless here. The captain opens the door, and Hiccup is thrown through behind him.

The entire cabin has been stripped and re-purposed to make space for a cage. And inside that cage is a monster.

 

Twisted in a knotted tangle just to fit inside is a heaving mass of black shark-skin hide, finned spines are flattened and crushed against cold iron, and barbells as long as Hiccup is tall twitch in the air. Its eyes are bigger than Hiccup’s hands, and greener than anything Hiccup has ever seen on land. Hiccup’s heart begins to beat at double-time and his trembles turn into shakes. His mouth is dry and his skin turns cold.

“Serpent” he whispers in terror.

The pirate captain laughs,

“That’s right! And do you know the best way to get a Sea Serpent’s blessing?”

He walks around to stand at Hiccup’s back, placing his hand on Hiccup’s shoulder, pushing him forward until Hiccup’s breath fogs up the iron bars, and leans down to whisper in Hiccup’s ear.

“You don’t need to do much, really. They’re simple creatures. I just need to give it a little _sacrifice_.”

 

Something sharp digs into Hiccup’s neck, and he watches red spray out over the cage bars and the serpent’s snout. It doesn’t hurt, Hiccup thinks, having your throat slit.

 

He dies watching a sea serpent drink his blood.

 

* * *

 

 

_Hiccup is standing on sand. Underwater. His hair and clothes defy gravity, even if the rest of him isn’t. It’s silent here. Deep and blue and still. Hiccup lays a hand over his throat. His fingers a left stained red, but he can feel no wound. He breathes out heavily, and that too, is a red cloud that slowly floats away on the current. He watches it dissipate._

_Before him is a great undersea mountain. It’s the only thing Hiccup can see in all directions. He takes a step. Sand puffs out under his foot, and the mountain begins to move. An enormous head rises, and huge fins spread out to fan the water. Double eye-lids open and two green eyes stare Hiccup down. Hiccup stares back, and the moment stretches long._

_Hiccup doesn’t know if this is a dream, or a death-vision, but he looks back at the serpent, and_ understands _. It sees him, and he it. It never looks away as it slowly bends its head until its close enough that Hiccup could reach out and touch._

_So he does._

_The moment he makes contact, the serpent begins to fluoresce. From where Hiccups hand rests on its massive snout, it begins to glow. One after the other, patches of its hide light up. The whole ocean begins to shine._

_The light intensifies, both from without and from within the serpent, until the creature is entirely made of light. All the while, neither it, nor Hiccup, look away. Not even when it pulls away from Hiccup’s touch._

_Only then, when it raises its head to roar. An echoing screech that makes the water tremble. It’s almost too bright to look at, and Hiccup’s ears ring with the Serpent’s cry. The water rushes past him like a gale as the creature lunges towards him, maul wide. But instead of colliding with him or eating him, all Hiccup feels is his body surrounded by heat and all he sees is light._

_And as abruptly as it seemed to begin, it ends, and Hiccup is alone on the floor of a deep, dark, silent sea._

_And then he’s left with only the dark._

 

* * *

 

Hiccup opens his eyes to starlit heavens and the sounds of waves. For a long time he lies and watches the stars move. They’re moving wrong, he thinks. Then he realises he’s the one moving. He sits up. Under his palms is rough skin. On either side, large fins act as both raft and rudder. Carefully he turns to face forward. He’s sitting on the serpent’s back. Just past the edges of its flattened head-frills.

 

The Sea Serpent looks bigger than it was while trapped in the cage, but smaller than in Hiccup’s vision. It must have felt Hiccup moving around, because it lifts it head and twists around to look at him.

“Hi”

Its inner eyelid blinks, and they just stare at each other. It’s a bit awkward.

“So…” Hiccup tries again “You, um, brought me back to life.”

The serpent sneezes, spraying Hiccup with a salt-water mist. He splutters and flails, trying to wipe water out of his face. The serpent chuckles. It sounds almost like the dolphins Hiccup sees sometimes in Berk’s harbour, but much deeper, and interspersed with low clicks. Hiccup is fascinated. He crosses his legs under him and leans back on his palms so he can comfortably meet the creature’s gaze

“You saved me.”

The serpent coos, and leans it head down to nudge at Hiccup’s collarbone and under his chin.

“And, I guess, I saved you, too.” Hiccup pets under its jaw, “That’s what happened, right? That pirate – he wanted your power, but that’s not how it works.”

The serpent pulls back just a little and clicks at Hiccup, who smiles back.

“Well. I guess it’s just you and me now. I don’t suppose you know the way home from here?”


End file.
